TheChek News Flow

Reports Q2 (Mar) earnings of $1.84 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.14 better than the Capital IQ Consensus of $1.70; revenues rose 9.1% year/year to $14.55 bln vs the $14.11 bln Capital IQ Consensus.

Media Networks revenues for the quarter increased 3% to $6.1 billion and segment operating income decreased 6% to $2.1 billion. Cable Networks revenues for the quarter increased 5% to $4.3 billion and operating income decreased 4% to $1.7 billion. Lower operating income was primarily due to a loss at BAMTech and decreases at Freeform and ESPN. In the current quarter, BAMTech's operating loss is reported in Cable Networks as a result of our acquisition of a controlling interest in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. In the prior-year quarter, the Company's share of BAMTech results was reported in equity in the income of investees. The loss at BAMTech reflects ongoing investments in their technology platform including costs associated with ESPN+. Results at Freeform were primarily due to lower advertising revenue reflecting a decrease in average viewership.

Studio Entertainment revenues for the quarter increased 21% to $2.5 billion and segment operating income increased 29% to $847 million. Operating income growth was due to increases in theatrical, home entertainment and TV/SVOD distribution results, partially offset by higher film cost impairments.

No update on ESPN+ subs from Mr. Iger on CNBC -- performing quite well.

Vodafone, one of the world’s largest mobile operators, is close to buying large parts of John Malone’s European cable group Liberty Global in a deal worth around €18bn that will expand the UK’s company’s footprint across the continent.

The deal will see Mr Malone, the US billionaire who controls Liberty Global through voting rights, part ways with the company’s German and eastern European assets, according to people briefed on the transaction.

Barring any last minute glitches a deal could be announced as soon as later this evening as Liberty Global reports first quarter results. However, they added the timing may still slip to later this week.

The deal will allow Vodafone to better compete against Deutsche Telekom, the region’s largest telecoms company, which owns T-Mobile and has a network that stretches from the Netherlands across central and eastern Europe to Greece.

Both Vodafone and Liberty Global did not immediately respond to request for comment.

The retreat from Europe by Mr Malone, who earned the moniker of “cable cowboy” for his buccaneering role in consolidating the industry globally, comes as Liberty Global has become increasingly frustrated with the balkanisation of the continent’s market.

Vodafone confirmed in February that it was in early talks with Liberty Global about acquiring certain overlapping asset after the Financial Times first reported about the preliminary negotiations.

Bloomberg has chosen Amsterdam as the base for its trading operations in the European Union, to give it access to EU markets after Britain leaves the 27-country bloc next year.

The US data and trading group is set to file an application this week with Dutch regulators for a fully regulated EU entity that can trade fixed income, equities, derivatives and foreign exchange. It is following the path trodden by rivals US MarketAxess and Tradeweb and the UK’s Nex Group in choosing the Dutch city as its EU home.

For the past two decades dozens of trading venues for bonds and shares have used their London operation as a passport to enter markets in Europe but now face creating dual systems, after the UK’s vote. Rivals have cited a regulator that understands the trading industry, as well as a stable legal structure, transport links and Amsterdam’s position at the centre of the continent as key attractions.

“Our decision wasn’t really about the regulators themselves, it was much more around the geographic location, the infrastructure in place . . . and we also care about the competitive landscape. It’s important to be in the same place as our peers,” Ben McDonald, global head of enterprise product at Bloomberg told the Financial Times.

Mr McDonald said Bloomberg would staff the operation with a mixture of people transferring from London and new hires. The number of people likely to be based in Amsterdam is around 10. The application will be for its trading platform and reporting businesses.

Bloomberg is one of the biggest trading venues in Europe. It has traded more than €300bn in interest rate swaps in each of the first three months of the year, according to an estimate by Clarus FT, a UK data provider.